


Livin' On A Prayer

by JehBeeEh



Series: Ahead by a Century [18]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Fluff and Humor, M/M, Tags Are Hard
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-21
Updated: 2019-11-21
Packaged: 2021-02-18 09:36:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,600
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21508954
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JehBeeEh/pseuds/JehBeeEh
Summary: “Hey! How’d it go?” Tony asked enthusiastically.“Ugh!” Was all Steve replied, instead faceplanting on the couch, his face now buried in the cushion.“Oh no,” the brunette scooched over so he could rub his boyfriend’s back. “What happened?  I was sure this would go great!”Another muffled grunt came from Steve, who didn’t budge.
Relationships: Steve Rogers/Tony Stark
Series: Ahead by a Century [18]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1514069
Comments: 18
Kudos: 229





	Livin' On A Prayer

**Author's Note:**

> The formatting is crapola, cause I am doing this from my phone in a hotel room. I promise I will fix it.
> 
> And the ending is crap too, cause I can't properly edit from said phone. It might get reworked a bit later.
> 
> Basically, I should have brought my laptop on this work trip, cause I can do nothing on my phone, and this is not my best effort as a result. Sorry!!

“Hey! How’d it go?” Tony asked enthusiastically.

“Ugh!” Was all Steve replied, instead faceplanting on the couch, his face now buried in the cushion.

“Oh no,” the brunette scooched over so he could rub his boyfriend’s back. “What happened? I was sure this would go great!”

Another muffled grunt came from Steve, who didn’t budge. Tony got up and went to the kitchen, grabbing a couple of beers before returning to the living room.

“Sweetheart, I’m sure it wasn’t as bad as you’re letting on. I mean, I don’t have much experience with job interviews, but we’re usually our own worse critic, right? I’m sure you nailed it. How could they not love you?!”

Steve finally sat up, and shrugged off his blazer. “The interview itself wasn’t completely horrible.” He finally said, grabbing the beer Tony had brought for him and having a long drink.

“OK, I’m a bit confused then.”

“Remember when I showed you the job poster, you were saying it sounded like a tech start up?”

“Yeah?”

“You had the tech part right,” he took another long drink. “I was waiting in the office, going through my portfolio and all that, when I look up and Pepper’s there.”

“What?”

“Yup. I thought she was there for another meeting, so I got up and said hi and went to hug her, like I always do when I see her, and her colleague looked so confused. Of course, turned out they were there to interview me…” Steve paused, taking another drink, his voice somewhere between disbelief and amusement, it truly was hard to pinpoint.

“Oh no,” Tony mumbled, biting his cheek, trying so hard not to laugh.  
“Thankfully, Pepper was great, told her colleague we know each other through a mutual friend, diffused the whole thing. I should have called it off right away, and not wasted their time. Once we sat down, Carla – “  
“I know her, she’s in our HR team. She’s a sweetie.”

“Oh, I know,” there was an edge of sarcasm now, and Tony tried so so hard not to laugh.

“She kept going on and on about how amazing you are, and sweet, and how it’s just a shame it didn’t work out between you and Pepper all those years ago.”

“Steve, I’m so sorry.”

“It’s fine. Anyways, we sat down, and Carla mentioned that I looked familiar. Pepper and I tried not to give anything away. I just said I must have one of those faces. We started the interview, they finally explained that they were from, shocker, Stark Industries, and that they put up the job posters without the company listed because otherwise they have way too many applicants and they can’t have the hiring firm weed through all of them properly. It’s different for the tech jobs, but for non-tech, it’s just too much.

“So, Carla asks her questions, Pepper too. They both seemed impressed with my resume and my answers. And then they went through my portfolio, and Carla was just gushing. Pepper seemed to love the few art pieces I added in there – I think we found her Christmas present though, so that’s good – and then they got to the Wired cover I’d put in there. The one with you on it.”

“Fuck…”

“That was my exact thought when I saw it. I forgot it was in there, or I would have taken it out while we were setting up. Would have saved me quite the earful from your BFF Carla on how hard we’d been on you, and how legal had needed to get involved, etc. etc.” Steve was definitely sounding annoyed now, although Tony couldn’t tell if it was at Carla or at himself. He sighed, and Tony couldn’t help the pang of pity that went through him and likely showed on his face, knowing just how hard it must have been to sit through hearing that.

“Baby, I’m so sorry you had to go through that,” he crooned to Steve, trying to sound sympathetic, but knowing his voice was filled with the laughter he was trying to mask. The blond clearly caught on, cause he glared at him, making Tony laugh out loud. “You have to admit, it’s kind of funny? Come here.” He wrapped his arms around Steve, trying to stifle more laughter.

“It’s not funny! Poor Pepper had to save me again, I didn’t know what to say.” He let himself be held for a minute before continuing. “The rest of the interview went really well. Before we left, Carla asked again if I was sure we’d never meant, I guaranteed her I had not. They were heading out too, cause the interview after me had cancelled and they were heading back to the tower, so I walked out with them. I figured I’d be fine once I was out of the building. And then, we ran into Happy.”

“Oh god…”

“Poor Happy. He had no idea, it’s not his fault, really. He saw me and Pepper, and started apologizing saying if he’d known we were both heading at the same place, he would have picked her up right after me, then he wouldn’t have had to drop me off so early in the first place. –“

“Oh no.”

“And said it wasn’t a problem if I wanted to hop in now, he’d just go drop off the ladies first, and then he’d get me back in your arms as quickly as he could. –“

“Oh god no!”

“Which got me the biggest glare from Carla. If you thought she was mad when she saw the cover, oh gosh. She was fuming when she realized I was the boyfriend. I insisted I was OK taking an Uber, but Happy kept insisting, never once catching sight of Pepper’s death stare. He all but threw me in the front seat of the car, and Pepper, bless her heart, closed the divider saying they had some work stuff to talk about. I don’t know if Pepper told him in the end what happened. Needless to say, Carla hates me, I’m pretty sure I’m not getting the job – not that I would have taken it – and I don’t think Pepper is too pleased either.”

“Aw babe!” Tony wrapped his arms around his boyfriend, kissing his cheek. “I’m sure Pepper is fine, and I’ll bring Carla a box of chocolate next week or something. Hey, at least, you know all your other interviews can only go up from here, right?” Tony tried to sound optimistic, be didn’t think it did much to help. Just then his phone rang. “Speaking of…” he gave Steve one more kiss as the blond downed the rest of his beer. “Hey Pepper! You’re on speaker by the way.”

“Hi Tony, Hi Steve. Are you doing ok?” Pepper asked, voice sounding genuinely concerned.

“Oh, I’m doing swell. Just heard about the HR nightmare you have on your hands, though.” Tony replied, amused tone back.

“Ha ha, you’re so funny. Steve, are you ok?”

“Yeah, I’ll live, thanks Pepper.”

“Steve, I’m so sorry! I had no idea we were interviewing you or I would have given you a head’s up. With everything going on, I didn’t have a chance to review all the resumes, and I just really quickly skimmed yours over… I should have called it off right away, but I thought maybe you’d like the practice. Tony said it was your first interview today. I feel horrible.”

“I appreciate it Pepper, really. Thank you. I should have called it off too, I really wish I had now. That car ride must have been so awkward for you.”

“Not really, actually. Carla realized she’d seen your picture with Tony a few times, that’s why you looked so familiar. She felt bad for how things went. I explained why I didn’t stop the interview earlier – that I was going to tell her when we got back to the office that, sadly, you weren’t exactly an option and why. I think she’s more worried Tony will be upset that she was mean to you.”

“I did get a feeling I had some competition, yeah.” Steve smirked at Tony then.

“Oh please, Carla is just protective, that’s all. She’s always been that way.”

“Well, regardless, she feels bad, and I’m sorry we wasted your afternoon, Steve.”

“Oh gosh, no! If anything, I wasted yours.”

“Well, I am not complaining cause Steve is looking quite handsome in his suit.” Tony winked at his boyfriend, making him blush.

“And, that’s my cue to hang up. Again, I’m so sorry about all this Steve.”

“It’s really nothing, Pepper. Don’t worry about it.”

They said their goodbyes, and hung up. Steve let out a sigh.

“Hey, don't worry about all of this, it'll be fine, all of it.” Tony wrapped his arms around the blond, who just sank into the embrace.

“I know. This day just did not go like I anticipated. I just want to nap.” Steve let out a yawn, and shuffled closer into his boyfriend's arms.

“We can definitely do that. How about we go upstairs, I take that suit off of you, and we have a nap, and then have a quiet night in. Sound good?”

“Yeah, it does. Thanks babe.”

“It is nothing. And I’m mostly being selfish and wanting to get that suit off, really.” Tony smirked.

“I feel like I should be getting something out of this, I'm the one that had the hard day.”

“That can easily be arranged,” Tony pulled Steve into a kiss filled with promises of a great time to come. “Come on, gorgeous.”

**Author's Note:**

> Hope you enjoyed. I don't know where this idea came from, I had such grand plans for the boys for this one, but it just did not go as planned. Ah well!


End file.
